


Written In The Stars Above

by flickawhip



Series: Written In The Stars Above [1]
Category: Silent Witness (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-06
Updated: 2017-02-06
Packaged: 2018-09-22 12:16:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,299
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9607205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flickawhip/pseuds/flickawhip
Summary: AU as all hell tbh.Pretty much a 'What if Ernesto had been the one to 'sell' Nikki...?'





	

She knows instantly when ‘Nesto comes sloping in, limping, wounded... and looking all too pleased with himself.

“... ‘Nesto?”

“I escaped...”

She wants to believe him, she wants to believe him so badly, and yet... she doesn’t. She can’t. Nikki has been missing for hours now, her friends from the UK are frightened, fussing and panicking and she knows, deep in her bones, what has happened. 

“ ‘Nesto... what did you do?”

“What I had to. She doesn’t matter Ma...”

The sound of the slap reverberates, anger and humiliation bleeding into each other, her voice fierce. 

“Luisa too? You sold them out ‘Nesto!”

Memories swirl around her and she has to push them away, ignore the echoing screams she can feel building deep within her, they can wait. 

“Where is she? Where did you put her?”

“Why does it matter?”

He catches her wrist when she tries to repeat the slap, twisting angrily until she cries out, all but pushing her away. 

“What happened to you?”

“As if you care.”

“Nesto! Where. Is. She....”

“You’ll never find her.”

The door slams behind him and she does, finally cry out, rage and fear combining into one long agonised scream. She lets herself cry, letting go of the fear until finally... finally she has control, she rises, making her way to the desk, the table she had raised her sons at. So many of them were gone, she had lost one to the cartels, others worked abroad and yet... she couldn’t bring herself to hope Ernesto hadn’t also fallen in with them. He had... it was so clear... his anger, the way he had looked right through her. She had thought she knew her son... but she didn’t. 

Anger makes her pace, thinking, her thoughts clouding slowly over her until the storm breaks and she makes her way to the table again. A phone... It would be enough, it had to be. 

The phone rang, automatically she had answered. The clues left by her son were meagre, a phone... and a photograph. Even now he couldn’t stand to leave her alone. The voice on the other end of the phone was taunting her, she had ignored the taunting, focusing in on the words. 

Nikki’s team would find the girls, the missing girls. She had to focus on Nikki. 

The phone call comes to her home phone and she smiles, thanking god that the others have been found. Now she only has to find Nikki. 

The phone, the one Ernesto had left for her, rings. She knows as she answers that Ernesto is dead. She hasn’t time yet to cry for him, she is too angry but she knows in time she will cry for him, he may have harmed Nikki, or lead her into harm, but he was her son. 

“Eva...”

“Nikki? Nikki, where are you?”

“I... I don’t know... I... I’m underground...”

The call breaks for a moment, when it comes back Nikki is screaming, sobbing weakly and begging her to help. 

“Nikki... Nikki breathe... What happened?”

“Scorpion...”

“Scorpion?”

The photo is by her hand and she flinches, staring at it. Ernesto. Her son. She doesn’t realize she’s told Nikki that he’s dead until the other woman apologizes.

“Later... Nikki... Can you feel air?”

“Yes.”

The word is sobbed and Eva’s eyes slide closed. She knows where she is. Ernesto... even at the end... had done what he could to help her. To give her some way out. 

“Hold on Nikki... I’m coming.”

The phone bleeps, Nikki’s tiny sob echoing even as Eva pushes the phone down into her pocket, gathering her car keys and a jacket, then after a second, another. She brings water, and supplies. Nikki will need them. 

Finding Nikki isn’t as simple as she had thought, but the echoing thuds and cries for help echo loudly enough that Eva almost smiles, making for the sound. She begins to run, silently sending up prayers. She can’t lose her now... not this close. 

The boards break just as she comes to her, Nikki’s coughing echoing in her ears even as she drags Nikki out, thanking every star in the sky for her luck. She props Nikki up against her, doing the best she can to keep Nikki upright, helping her drink and eat. Once she is sure Nikki will survive, she begins to gently clean her as best she can, taking in every inch of clean skin she can make, the pale skin meaning everything. 

Nikki struggles to stand and Eva knows she has to get her home, get her help. They will survive. 

The next time she sees Nikki they are both finally free of fears, perhaps she has lost her son, but she has Nikki. It will be enough. Nikki is pale, clearly restless and yet Eva can’t help but smile. She is alive. 

The man from Nikki’s team has gone home, having persuaded Nikki to stay, she won’t be alone, she will have Eva. It seems he understands that Eva needs time, and space, to be with Nikki, they need time and space to work out just what it is they want from one another. 

“I’m sorry... about Ernesto.”

Eva sighs, half-shrugs sadly. 

“He fell in with the cartels...”

“Eva...”

“No. Nikki... Please...”

Even now, even aching with the confusion of loving Ernesto and hating him for hurting Nikki, she can’t help but look at Nikki. She is only aware she is staring when Nikki shifts a little. Even then she knows that she will always see Nikki as beautiful. 

Nikki is taller, thinner and yet not lanky, her eyes are a beautiful shade of deep, rich brown, her pale skin flattered by long blonde hair. She is, and always will be, beautiful. An English Rose. 

What she cannot possibly know is how Nikki sees her. What she had felt, and thought, in the time since Eva rescued her. Nikki had thought she had come to save Eva, to save her sons, perhaps she had failed a little... but she had found something more... they had found something more... together. 

Eva may have thought Nikki was the most beautiful woman alive, but Nikki had thought the same thing, it had started when she first saw Eva, but now, when Eva had come for her and not let her die for her son... She saw the woman again, in a new light. She was beautiful, and brave. 

Eva seemed to dislike herself, had flinched away from her when she attempted to help her. Now though, now Nikki was able to watch her quietly. 

Eva may be petite, but she is beautiful, her eyes are a warm brown shade, her skin a little paler than usually but she looks beautiful with it, she is happiest here, at work, at the hospital and at home. Her smile, when she does smile, is radiant. Nikki still wants to push Eva’s hair out of her eyes, to feel the soft silken strands of deep brown hair, to pull her closer. 

“Eva...”

This time the plea is softer, more a request than a statement. 

“Nikki...”

The two move, slowly, Nikki sitting up, her hand still stretched toward Eva. Eva stepping to take her hand, to finally allow Nikki closer. Nikki smiles softly, pulling Eva down beside her, she knows that Eva needs something else, something that isn’t thinking and feeling all of her pain. It takes time, long enough that she half-smiles before reaching for Eva, finally pushing hair out of her eyes, fingers tangling into the same hair she’d longed to touch since first seeing Eva, pulling her closer, the kiss long, and lingering, and tender. 

It may only have been the first step towards normalcy, but it was enough. For the night, for however long it took, this would be enough.


End file.
